November 30, 2009

I wasn't feeling very well earlier today, but I'm much better now. I thought I was getting a cold, but thank goodness it has passed. My head doesn't hurt as much now and my throat isn't as sore. I really hate being sick because it makes taking care of my family difficult as I guess it would for any mother. Plus I've got a busy week planned so I glad I'm feeling better now.

I wanted to make a card for Sunday's featured stamper, MrsBoz. I chose to case this card from her gallery. I really love her card and I had a hard time trying to find two things to change about it, but as I went along I ended up using a different sentiment and border punch. I also decided not to add the two flowers along the top, but I did use two additional leaves (I placed them with the other leaves). I staggered my scalloped border and I didn't emboss the top white scalloped border layer. Her card is a sympathy card, but I decided to stamp a birthday sentiment instead.

I really like the way my card turned out, it was really quick and easy and it could be used for several different occasions. And with no bows or larger ribbon, it's great for mailing too!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to check back tomorrow because as I promised last week I'm going to post a tutorial on how I created my sponged sky on this card.

November 29, 2009

Hi everyone! Here's my card for tomorrow's CAS - Clean & Simple challenge. This is my last challenge as a member of the CAS Autumn design team. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I had such a great time with our challenges and it was truly a pleasure working with Jen, Ryann, and Jenn (Miss Boo). I am looking forward to seeing the next set of challenges from the new Winter design team. Thanks for having me!

The last challenge is a makeover challenge. We were to pick a card from our gallery and remake it into a CAS card or just make it over if we chose to. I picked this card from my gallery to make over and I decided to turn it into a CAS card.

I eliminated three card stock layers and one color of card stock, the punched out butterflies, liquid pearls, stamped background, and punched edge along the bottom. On my remade card I used the same image, but I did some dry embossing on the bottom half of my background.

For my main image I colored my stamp using my SU markers and then stamped it onto my card stock. On my background I only ebmossed half (I placed my card stock partially inside my embossing folder) and then just above the Swiss Dots embossed background I added three decorative score lines.

I wasn't too sure about the ribbon that I chose, but I guess it looks alright. Oh, and I also thought that I should mention that I added a few small dots in the center of the flowers using my Close to Cocoa marker.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

November 25, 2009

I wanted to post the Thanksgiving cards that I made this year. Yes, I make Thanksgiving cards...LOL My husband says that I'll look for any excuse to make a card. Just wait until he sees my Groundhog's Day cards ;)

My Thanksgiving card was super easy to make. I just colored in the turkey using my SU markers.

Along the bottom of my card I did some paper piercing and a decorative score line and then, I tied my ribbon and assembled my card. My pattern paper is from the dollar spot at target.

I find myself using this layout quite often, but it's, quick, easy, and it usually works well for me.

I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving Day!!!

November 23, 2009

Happy Monday....and once again here's my card for today's CAS clean & simple challenge. Today's challenge is a ways to use it challenge and we were to find ways to use sponging.

All I did was stamp the tree image using brown stazon ink. Then I sponged the sky blue starting with a lighter blue along the bottom (Bashful Blue) and then towards the top I finished sponging used a darker blue (Night of Navy).

Then using a punched scalloped circle I did some more sponging using a medium color blue ink (Brocade Blue) to make it look like clouds in the sky.

My daughter said I needed some snowflakes so I had to stamp some of those on as well.

Lastly, I added some glitter over the snow using a VersaMark ink pad and Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It's super glittery in person.

I'll update my blog tomorrow and if I have some extra time I'll try to show how I did my sponging, it really was quick and easy.

I hope you all have Happy Thanksgiving!

November 20, 2009

Thank goodness today I had some time to rest. It's been a crazy week and I guess the next month or so will be busy as well with the upcoming holidays. I'll try to post as regularly as I can.

I have my brother in law and his wife coming to stay with us next week over Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure how much time I will have to update regularly.

My cards for today are the last set of cards that I made for the Winter CAS design team challenges. The last challenge is a theme challenge. We were to create winter themed cards. These two cards that I made had to really be quick and easy because I have to get started on my Thanksgiving cards and get them in the mail....Yikes! What am I waiting for! It's almost Thanksgiving!

My first card I made using the snowman image from SU's A Beautiful Season. All I did was stamp the snowman and assemble my card. I added a Happy Holidays sentiment from SU's Warmest Regards stamp set and I also added some white organdy ribbon and silver cording. It was so quick and really easy to make, great for mass producing and going through the postal system.

My second card was another quick one and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I might have to make some more of these for my Christmas cards this year.

First I inked up my stamp Supersize Snowflake stamp using Bashful Blue ink. Then I took the medium snowflake stamp from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set and I inked that with Night of Navy ink and using the kissing technique I stamped the snowflake image over top of my supersize snowflake. Once I finished stamping over top of the supersize snowflake stamp I then stamped it onto my card stock. (It really was quick and easy, and fun as well)!

Next, I stamped my sentiment and I cut it out and rounded the corners using my corner rounding punch. I threaded some silver cording through the tops of my sentiment words and then I wrapped the cording around my card stock and then tied a bow in the front. Then I added a rhinestone gem and assembled my card.

If you would like more information on how to create your own card using the kissing technique look here. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be back again on Sunday night to post my card for Monday's CAS - Clean & Simple challenge.

November 19, 2009

WOW! It sure was a busy day for me today. I didn't stop all day long. My husband's grandmother came over to spend some time with the kids and the baby had a doctor's appointment today. Just for her regular check up, but she did end up needing two shots. She did pretty well with them and hardly even cried.

My son had his weekly swimming lessons and after all that I had to run to Toys R Us to pick up a Christmas present (while it was still on sale). Toys R Us online had the same toy $20 cheaper so I printed out the item from website and I took it into the store and they did price match it for me. Not all stores do this, but I thought I would let you all know that Toys R Us will.

I worked on making two more cards for the CAS Winter design team challenges. The second challenge was an inspiration challenge. I spent some time looking through all of the items on this website and I have to admit there really was a lot to chose from, but as soon as I saw this ornament (and also pictured below), I knew I just had to have some fun with it!
My son just loves the Grinch, so I was thinking of him when I made this card. I'm not quite sure who I'm going to give this card to just yet or even if I'm going to use it, but it sure was fun to make. I played around with my punches until I got something that sort of resembled him.

All of the punches I used are SU. I used the scalloped one for the Grinch's head, and his Santa hat. The Santa hat is actually two punched out scallop circles just layered behind one another. The white trim of the hat was punched out using my word window punch and I also used my 1/4" circle punch for the ball on the hat, the eyes, and the nose. I drew in by hand the smiley face, whiskers, and center of the eye.

The rest of my Grinch card is pretty easy to figure out. I used some pattern paper, Old Olive card stock (which I punched with scallops) and I added a red grosgrain ribbon. My sentiment is from SU's To You & Yours stamp set.

I made a second card inspiration card using this Gingerbread house ornament seen here (and also pictured below).

As soon as I saw the Gingerbread house ornament I immediately thought of my SU Sweet Holiday's stamp set. Now I realize that my card does have a good amount of coloring, but I tried to make it easy and not color every little detail. I didn't color the roof and I skipped over some of the peppermint candies.

I needed to keep the rest of my card simple, so all I did was layer my stamped image onto Real Red card stock and then put together my card. That was it! Not even any ribbon on this card, which is unusual for me!

I decided to use the 'From our house to yours' sentiment from SU's To You & Yours stamp set, I just thought it was perfect for my card.

I'm so glad that you stopped by and I hope you are enjoying all of my holiday cards! If anyone ever decides to case any of my cards, I sure would love to see them, I'll even link them on my blog so be sure to let me know.

Be sure to check back tomorrow because I'll be posting my cards for the last of the three CAS design team challenges.

November 18, 2009

I'm sorry that I'm a bit late updating my blog. My son had preschool today and my daughter had her library program in the evening. My daughter wasn't too crazy about attending the library program, but she will soon start volunteering every other Saturday morning and then she can stop going to that program. I'll be glad as well once she starts her volunteer work, hopefully it will give her some work experience and a sense of responsibility.

After everyone was asleep I made a point to take some time for myself today. I wanted to participate in the Clean & Simple Winter design team search/challenges. It has been a wonderful experience for me; CAS cards are my favorite. If anyone isn't sure what design team search I am talking about, you can find more information here. Everyone is welcome to play along with the challenges, even if you do not wish to be on the design team.

Jen has three challenges posted. 2 sketch, 2 inspiration, and 1 theme challenge. Jen said that we could play along, so I wanted to make a card for each challenge. My cards today are the ones that I made for the sketch challenges. My first card is based on Lateblossom's card show here.

I decided to do a little something different with Susan's sketch. I did keep the same 9 block of small squares, but it is one larger snowflake image. I used a technique called thumping to ink up my snowflake stamp. First I inked up my stamp and then using Night of navy and Brocade Blue SU Markers I thumped over my image and then stamped it onto my card stock.

In the center I added a rhinestone brad and I also added a few score lines towards the bottom of my card. I added the ribbon along the bottom as well to sort of help balance my card. My snowflake image is from SU's Snowflake stamp set as well as the sentiment.

My second sketch card is based on another one of Lateblossom's cards shown here.

Well, I have to admit that I've been making so many Holiday cards that I decided to make card with some flowers on it- I thought it would be a nice change.

My flower image is from SU's Both Way Blossoms stamp set. I just stamped the flowers, colored them using my SU markers, and then punched them with my circle punches. My center flower is layered on a piece of Summer Sun card stock. I wanted the center flower to stand out a bit.

I decided not to put an image in the smaller circles (I didn't want my card become too busy) so I just punched out four smaller circle using plain black card stock. My sentiment is from SU's It's Your Birthday stamp set.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog and the best of luck to those of you who are trying out for the CAS Winter design team!

November 17, 2009

Hi everyone! I wasn't too happy with my card for yesterday's CAS inspiration challenge, so I decided to make another one.

The picture below is the handbag that I chose to use for my inspiration to create my card. I love this handbag and I just had to buy it before it retired this past summer.

I used the flower stamp from SU's True Friend stamp set. Using my SU markers I colored the stamp and then stamped it onto my card stock.

My Bashful Blue card stock is stamped using Bashful Blue ink and the same flower stamp. I decided to make this a thinking of you card, so my sentiment is from SU's Warmest Regards stamp set.

I wasn't quite sure how to add my ribbon onto my card, and when all else fails, I tend to resort to using ribbon tabs, but I think they sometimes add a nice touch to a card and it's a great way to use up some ribbon scraps like I did with this card.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

November 16, 2009

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great day! Did you ever have one of those days where you just keep going all day long, but you feel like you didn't get much accomplished? Well, that is how my day went today, but I'm done for now and I thought I would update my blog.

This is my card for today's CAS (Clean & Simple Challenge). This week's challenge is an inspiration challenge based the Vera Bradley website, handbag selection seen here.

The picture below is of the handbag that I chose for my inspiration. I just love this purse. I wanted it for Christmas two years ago and my mother in law was going to buy it for me, but she ended up buying me a different pattern. I still would love to have this pattern- maybe this Christmas santa will bring me one ;)

I stamped my flowers using Chocolate Chip ink and then I added a bit of blue using my SU marker.

I then cut out the flowers and assembled my card, super quick and easy!

I also added some white dots using my white gel pen and the center flower is popped using dimensionals.

My birthday sentiment is from SU's It's Your Birthday stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

November 15, 2009

Happy Sunday!

I spent most of my night last night finishing up my CAS Christmas card swap. I had all of the cards and I started swapping and taking pictures of them.

If anyone is interested in seeing all of the cards that I received from my swap you can find them here.









I took pictures when I started swapping all of the cards. I had to put the leaf in my table because I ended up with so many. There are more cards in the picture below. (I couldn't fit them all onto my table).




I made two cards for my swap and this is the second one I made. My card was really easy to make. I just stamped the house image and then colored it just a bit using my SU markers.

I added some faux stitching along the border of my main image panel. I guess I should have added some glitter, but I didn't think of it until after I was finished swapping my cards.

My pattern paper is from DCWV Prints for the Year stack and my ribbon is from Offray.

If you would like to see the other card that I made for my swap you can find it here.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day and be sure to check back tonight for my CAS challenge card!

November 13, 2009

As I promised yesterday, I am posting some pictures of my new ScrapBox. A few weeks ago my favorite website Splitcoast Stampers hosted a fantastic giveaway. The amazing prize was a ScrapBox from The Orginal ScrapBox. I couldn't believe that I was chosen as a finalist and after four days of voting by the Splitcoast community I was the lucky winner.

Several of you have been asking when I was going to post some pictures. I've been taking pictures all week long while my husband and I were assembling my ScrapBox and while my family and I were rearranging our home to turn my craft room into a bedroom for the baby. I wasn't able to post any pictures until now, but here they are!

If you would like to see my entry thread the link can be found here. I wrote a follow up/ending to my story and that link can be found here.

My first picture is of my ScrapBox once it was assembled.

The picture below is of my ScrapBox open and filled with all of my stamping items. I decided not to store my stamps inside my ScrapBox mainly because they wouldn't all fit inside with all of my other stuff.

I just wanted to share with you all a picture of my stuff before I started organizing my ScrapBox. It is truly amazing how much stuff can fit inside. This is the part that impressed me the most. There's a lot of stuff here, I have stuff on top of stuff and tons of paper, Cuttlebug folders, lots of punches, ribbon, markers, crayons, pencils, adhesive, wheels, my Circut & the cartridges, etc.

This is a picture that I took once I was finished organizing my ScrapBox. I only have a few items left over. I decided not to put my ink caddy or card stock scraps inside and I had a few scrapbook albums that I put on a shelf with my stamps. And after all this, I still have a few empty totes left over! My husband was only too happy to hear about that (weren't you dear?) ...LOL

The next few pictures are just some close ups of my ScrapBox. This picture is of my ScrapBox opened up on the left hand side. The outer side panels are covered with Velcro and they hold the plastic zipper totes.

This picture is of the right hand side outer panel.

Here is a close up picture of the totes, just above the desk that hold all of my card stock and scrapbooking paper. All of the totes are removable and are easily stored by unzipping them and folding them flat. Each tote has a nice little insert for a label.

I took this picture just to show you how much stuff these totes can hold. This tote is from the left hand side door. They are lots of spools of ribbon in this tote and the larger spools of ribbon are big ones (50 yards).

I wasn't quite sure what I would store in the smaller totes, and then I thought about my wheels, and they fit perfectly. I was able to fit all of my wheels on one side of my ScrapBox (there is a row of this size tote on each side of the ScrapBox). I was storing my wheels in SU's plastic wheel storage cases, but I was able to get rid of those now.

And here is one last close up picture of the totes that are in the right hand door of my ScrapBox. I decided to store my punches in these totes. I used to have my punches stored in an over the door organizer, but now they all fit into just a few of these totes.

I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to The Original ScrapBox for offering such an amazing prize, and thank you to Splitcoast Stampers for hosting the contest. Also special thanks to the judges for all of your time that it took to read each entry, to the other nine finalists, everyone who entered the contest, and everyone who took the time read our entries and place your vote. I had such a great time sharing my story, pictures, and my family with everyone.

It sure has been a busy week trying to get my ScrapBox organized, moving my stamping items downstairs, getting my ScrapBox set up and organized, and turning my craft room into a nursery for the baby.

I've already started using my new ScrapBox and I am so thrilled with it. The ScrapBox is a fantastic piece of furniture! I saw a ScrapBox at a stamp show about two years ago and I never thought I would have one of my own. When my ScrapBox arrived and I saw everything in five boxes I kept thinking about how hard this was going to be to put together, but the instructional DVD video that was included was terrific!

It took my husband and I about 4 1/2 hours to put it together, but it went smoothly and then after it was assembled I spent about 2 hours putting up the shelves and opening the canvas totes.

I waited until the next day to start bringing my supplies downstairs and once I had everything gathered I started organizing things and putting them where I thought it would work best. I ended up putting all of my stamping supplies inside my ScrapBox except for my ink caddy, scrap card stock, and a few scrapbook albums.

I am totally thrilled with my ScrapBox and if anyone is thinking about purchasing one for yourself, I say go for it! The ScrapBox holds so much more than you could imagine and the best part is that when you are finished crafting the table folds down and you just close the doors. The ScrapBox is on wheels and even though it is filled with supplies it moves so easily.

I'll even be able to use more of my supplies now that they are handy. I never heat embossed very often because it was hard for me to get to my embossing supplies. Now all I have to do is pull out the canvas tote and grab whatever I need. No more digging around and moving things around to try and find what I need.

I hope you all enjoyed my story! This has been so much fun and so very exciting!

November 12, 2009

Hi everyone! My husband's grandmother came over today. She usually comes over once a week to spend some time with the children and it gave me some time to catch up with my house work.

Since I ended up having a pretty good day, I decided to make a nice supper (we had pigs in the blanket). I don't make them often, but my family loves them.

After supper we took our son for his weekly swimming lessons. This was only his second week, but he just loves it. He wants to know how many more days until he goes again.

I posted a picture (below) of my son at his swimming lesson today. He is swimming in the water with my husband. The parents go in the water with the children during the last 15 minutes.

I made another card for Monday's CAS color challenge- to create a card using white plus one color.

I made a card similar to this one awhile back- you can see that card here. I'm not posting this card under the CAS40 challenge because without thinking I used gold brads, so I didn't stay within the white plus one color limit.

I used the poinsettia stamp from SU's Perfect Presentation stamp set. I colored the poinsettia using my Real Red SU marker because I didn't want to stamp the wording that is around the poinsettia image. Then I just stamped a few of them together in a row.

My sentiment is from SU's Holiday & Wishes stamp set and my ribbon is from Offray.

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful day! Tomorrow I'm going to post some pictures of my new ScrapBox.

November 10, 2009

Hi everyone! I spent the day today catching up on some laundry and house work. I have so many things that needed to be done today and I was cleaning like a crazy woman.

I hardly ever drink coffee, in fact I can go as far as to say that I hate coffee, but I do like a latte once and awhile, well I guess because I'm not used to the caffeine and after drinking my caramel latte today I had so much energy, I was going nonstop today. Now I know why everyone drinks coffee in the morning! That caffeine sure gets you going!

After my cleaning mood settled down today, I decided to make another card for yesterday's CAS challenge. Yesterday's challenge was a color challenge. The challenge was to create a CAS card using only white and one other color.

This time I decided to make a blue and white snowman card. My main image is stamped from SU's Festive Favorites. I just stamped and colored my image using a blue SU marker and I added some glitter along the bottom of the snowmen.

My background is embossed using my Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder. My blue and white ribbon is from Offray. I decided not to add a sentiment on the front of my card. I wanted it to be a more of a simple and quick card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

November 9, 2009

Hi everyone! I should soon be back to regularly updating my blog. I have finished organizing my new ScrapBox and the baby now has her own bedroom. It was a lot of work in just a short time, but I am thrilled that it's all finished. I can't post pictures of my ScrapBox just yet, but I have them ready for when I am able.

Here's my card for today's CAS or Clean & Simple challenge. Today's challenge is a color challenge and we were to create a card using white plus one other color. I decided to make yet another Christmas card (you can never have too many of them, right?)

I've been seeing so many Christmas ornament cards in the gallery lately and I do not have the Delightful Decorations stamp set and coordinating punch, so I thought why not try and make my own.

I stamped the large tree image from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set using Glorious Green ink and then I punched out a circle for my ornament. Next, I punched out a small square for the top of my ornament. For my ornament hanger I just cut a small piece of scrap card stock and glued it using 2 way glue.

It's hard to see in my picture, but I added some glitter on my ornaments using Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. It's real glittery in person.

I scored three horizontal lines just below my ornaments and above my sentiment. My sentiment is from SU's Holidays & Wished stamp set and I used my SU marker and Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp my Merry Christmas sentiment horizontally. So what do you think? Do these look like Christmas ornaments?

November 3, 2009

I'm just now getting to my card for Friday's limited supply challenge. The challenge was to create a card based on the weather in our area. Well on Friday it was rainy here, so I decided to ink up my SU Rainy Days stamp set.

We were also to use 2/2/2 of something on our cards. My 2/2/2 items are: I used 2 stamped images (the girl and duck), I used 2 embellishments- ribbon and Crystal Effects, and I only used 2 colors of cardstock (except white of course).

I stamped the girl image and colored her using my SU markers and then I added Crystal Effects over her rain coat and boots. I did a little bit of water coloring using my SU watercolor crayons and aqua painter for the rain water on the ground.

My sentiment is from SU's Under the Weather stamp set and I thought it would go perfectly with my stamped images. I only inked up part of the sentiment stamp. I added a few score lines along the bottom of my card using my scor-pal and my ribbon was leftover from a scrapbook kit that I purchased at Wal-mart a few years ago. (I never throw anything away....LOL)

Have a great day!

November 2, 2009

I've been a bit behind with my blog lately and I spent tonight trying to catch up. My ScrapBox is now complete and I have it all organized, so now I have some free time to stamp. The baby's room isn't quite ready yet, but we are working on it.

This is my card for Sunday's featured stamper. The featured stamper is Miss Boo. I love Jen's gallery and I often times look at her gallery for some inspirataion. Here is the link to her gallery if anyone would like to take a look.

This is her card that I chose to case. I kept the same layout and I used the same punches, but I decided to make a Christmas card and so I ended up changing the colors and I added a sentinment.

My card was really easy and very quick to make. Basicially all I did was stamp the snowman and color it in using my SU markers. I punched him using my circle punch and it's layered using another circle punch and my SU scallop circle punch.

The snowman and sentintment are both from SU's Merry & Bright stamp set and my ribbon is from Offray. I'm not quite sure if I like the ribbon I chose, but I wanted to use a polka dot ribbon like on Jen's card.

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!

November 1, 2009

Hi everyone! Here is my card for today's CAS (clean & simple) challenge. Today's challenge is a sketch challenge based on this lovely card by 1busymomof2.

I decided to make another Christmas card (I've been on a Christmas card kick lately) and I stamped my own pattern paper using the larger and small snowflake stamps from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set. I just stamped repeatedly using Bashful Blue and Encore silver ink. I did the same thing just to the left of my Season's Greetings sentiment.

I wanted to try and balance my card, I just felt that the right sided ended up being a bit heavier, so I added a few score lines on the left side using my scor-pal. It's hard to see in my picture, but I also add a score line on my sentiment panel.

Instead of adding ribbon to my card, I decided to keep with in my silver theme and I used some silver cording. I wrapped it around my card three times and then I tied it in a bow.

I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know why I haven't been around much lately. Everyone (except me) in my family has been sick for the past two weeks (including the dog), so I haven't been able to comment in the gallery like I usually do. Slowly everyone is getting better except the baby. Her fever is gone, but now she is coughing and just yesterday she developed a rash all over. I'll have to call her doctor in the morning.

And on top of all of this my ScrapBox has arrived. Yippee!!! My husband and I have been busy putting it together and moving all of my stamping items from my craft room downstairs into my new ScrapBox. We are also super busy changing my craft room into a nursery for the baby. I've been taking lots of pictures, but I'm not able to post them just yet (I will as soon as I can).

Thanks for looking!